Namaste! I want to begin by acknowledging you - ALL of you, and all of YOU! - How AMAZING you all are! All that you are, all that you do, all that you say, and feel and think. I believe we are all here for a purpose, one that serves all. You may feel aligned with that completely, or absolutely not at all, or somewhere in between. No matter! Everything is unfolding perfectly! You are amazing!
I just had my birthday last week and became an Aussie citizen, and it was a golden chance to catch up online with some of my friends who I haven’t connected with for a while. I found such sweetness in acknowledging their sharings and the threads of their lives. I recall thinking how wonderful it would be if we had another body, mind and soul, to be able to follow the threads of our friends’ lives more closely!… A day in the life of our friends, a drop in the ocean of each moment, and following each progressive day, all the hugely diverse changes and myriad complexities we all face, the emotional and energetic ups and downs, the joys and the tears, the humour, the anger, the despair, the upliftment. How we all cope with life - or don’t - and how we are adapting to these changing times. What life lessons we find ourselves learning, what things we are letting go of, what we are holding on to, what is pushing our buttons, and what is giving us soul balm right now.
I found that acknowledging the amazingness of each human being in this way to be so expansive for my heart!
I caught myself this week shooing away a bush turkey from the walnuts I had left for the parrots on my balcony, as I thought it might make a mess everywhere, and keep coming back and making more mess! But then I thought, ‘Turkeys are just as amazing as parrots and any other birds and beings! Yes they may leave mess but I want to acknowledge them equally!’ So I decided then to welcome them back and not to shoo them away again! And it really warms my heart that I can welcome and acknowledge them too! And enjoy their clumsiness and their bare skin heads for being just as they are, and appreciating their fastidiousness, in contrast to the parrots, of cleaning up every speck of nut! And so far, no mess (on this balcony anyway!)
I want to acknowledge too all who acknowledged my birthday and/or who acknowledge others’ birthdays and causes for celebration. Thank you! On my birthday this year I had a release of suppressed anger and sadness. I realised it was because I used to not really acknowledge my own birthday, or expect anyone else to do so… And of course, not many did at the time, I felt, as that was the energy I was putting out.
I used to think that celebrating my own birthday was a form of ego gratification and strengthening and therefore it was better not to. But I realised on my birthday this year - feeling very acknowledged and celebrated! - that this was a form of spiritual bypassing, and that acknowledging ourselves and causes for celebration is super healthy and important - for a super healthy ego, and as the divine beings that we are.
We are divine in nature, I believe, and it is natural for us to want to celebrate. Every other word in kirtan for example is ‘Jaya!’ Or ‘Namaha!’ Or ‘Swaha!’ Or ‘Namo!’ Or ‘Hey!’ Or ‘Bolo!’ These are all sacred words for honouring and celebrating the divinity in ourselves, which makes our hearts sing!
It is very apt too that we are astrologically at the culmination of Navaratri, a nine day Hindu festival which acknowledges our shadows and our light - that which we haven’t acknowledged yet (our shadow), and that which we have (our light). And that wherever we are at with this, we can trust that this is all perfect and in divine timing!
This Saturday - Vijaya (Victory Day) - is the occasion post-Navaratri to acknowledge our light. And equally to acknowledge what was previously in shadow which is now in the light of our awareness. It is a beautiful time to reflect on this. How far we have all come and journeyed!
Geeti Julie Rogers and I with our dear friend Patricia Bordon are offering a dance and kirtan event online this Saturday evening, for those who feel called to acknowledge and celebrate this occasion, ourselves, each other and the Earth.
Photos: first one is celebrating my Aussie citizenship online! Second one is birthday celebrations holding Geeti's card to me.
Blessings on your week, in deep gratitude and acknowledgment xxx
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